It's one thing to talk about helping others. It's another to actually do it. Doctoral student Son Truong would definitely fall into the latter category! Truong's years of in-the-trenches devotion as a volunteer and researcher to the well-being of children and youths through play has earned him extraordinary recognition.
Late last year, the Canadian Bureau of International Education presented him with its student leadership award for internationalization. Nominated by professor Jane Vallentyne, one of the founders and leaders of the University of Alberta's Play Around the World international outreach program in Thailand, Truong says he has long been interested in the positive role play and recreation can have play in the lives of children, and in their physical and emotional well-bring.
Sport, play and their contribution to international development have always intrigued Truong. It was just after completing a BSc in therapeutic recreation at Dalhousie University that he applied for a six-month CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) internship in Egypt. There he worked with an NGO called the Ma'an Group, run by Sudanese refugees and displaced people from Sudan, and mandated to aid Sudanese refugees in Cairo.
Truong, who planned health education workshops for children and youth, was drawn to the community-based organization, the Sudanese Children's Sport Association. "It was run by former Sudanese athletes. They saw that many refugee children and youth might not be going to school, were displaced, living in congested areas or had little to do during the day. They started a network of sport groups to bring children together to play," says Truong, who was impressed by the positive role models the athletes were for children, and how they worked to re-establish generational connections through play and sport.
Truong says the Cairo experience was life-altering. "This was the first time I had been able to combine what I had studied with my other areas of interest. I found working in another country creates real awareness of global issues; you become more aware when you step outside of Canada."
When he began his master's degree at the University of Alberta, supervised by Mike Mahon, he says, "I had an interest in looking broadly at the field of sport and for development and peace, stemming from the UN's Article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child that promotes the child's right to play and also to incorporate sport as a way of contributing toward international development goals."
Since 2005, when he first went to Thailand with Play Around the World (PAW), Truong's prior experience came in handy in helping other students adjust and learn. Vallentyne was quick to recognize Truong's value to the team. "Son's background in community development and his process of mindful leadership was instrumental to the effectiveness of the Chiang Mai team's work and acceptance by the local communities," she says. "I remain grateful to him for advancing the PAW project as well as enhancing the quality of education and global experience of his fellow team members."
He led a student team to Thailand in 2006 and remains active in the program as its senior program advisor working with volunteers, the advisory committee and program management committee.
Truong says he's struck by the potential for Play Around the World to be a transformative learning experience for undergraduate students. "As part of my research, I interviewed all of the students who went that year, and being there with them, I was able to experience it with them.
"That led to a focus on global citizenship education - another potential area for Play Around the World to continue to move towards. It's not just about student mobility, but about student engagement and being reflective and trying to learn more about global issues and being aware of them," he says.
Currently in Thailand for six to eight months to gather data for his doctoral research, Truong is working with a Thai nongovernmental organization called the Foundation for Child Development, based in Bangkok, on its Creative Spaces campaign. "Through this project they try to advocate and provide safe play spaces for children and for families to come together and interact. They are using play as a tool to focus on holistic child development."
Truong says he's excited by the opportunity but aware of the need to tread carefully and be respectful of others' cultures. "Play varies across cultures as a form of cultural expression," he says. "At the same time, there are elements that are similar. Play is something you can create through a language of movement, play or sport as ways to navigate around language barriers."
But, he cautions, "We have to be careful about the 'cultural imperialism' of play - imposing our own ideas of what play is or should be. It's about respectfully sharing and learning together."
Play Around the World website